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Christopher Lee
| image = | birth name = Christopher Frank Carandini Lee | known aliases = | gender = | mediums = Film | roles = | date of birth = May 27th, 1922 | place of birth = London, England | date of death = June 7th, 2015 | place of death = Chelsea, London, England | notable works = Dracula Hammer Horror The Howling | first = Curse of Frankenstein }} Christopher Lee (27 May, 1922 - 7 June, 2015) is a British actor who was born Christopher Frank Carandini Lee in Belgravia, London, England. With a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee has cemented himself as a horror film icon, due in no small part to his portrayal of the infamous vampire Dracula in Hammer Horror's series of films from the 1950s and 1960s. Preceding his 1958 introduction to the world of Dracula, Lee had made appearances in two other Hammer Horror film. It was his portrayal of the Frankenstein Monster in the 1957 film Curse of Frankenstein that put Lee on the path towards Dracula. Also for Hammer, Lee played the role of the evil Egyptian Kharis in the 1959 remake of the Mummy. In 1960, he played a character named Paul Allen in Terence Fisher's The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll. This character was in stark contrast to the roles that Lee would go on to play, and remains one of the actor's personal favorites throughout his career with Hammer. Christopher Lee passed away from heart and respiratory failure in Kensington and Chelsea, England on June 7th, 2015 at the age of 93. Telegraph.co.uk; June 11th, 2015; "Sir Christopher Lee dies at 93 - latest reaction and tributes". Dracula ]] Lee first donned the cloak and fangs of Count Dracula in the 1958 Terence Fisher film Horror of Dracula (sometimes referred to only as Dracula). Though this film established his genre career for several more sequels, Lee was absent from the following film, Brides of Dracula and did not resume the role again until the 1966 film Dracula: Prince of Darkness. This movie stands out from the others, as this is the only film of Lee's Dracula set where the character has no dialogue. The following three sequels, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, and Scars of Dracula all took place in the 19th century and found the lord of the undead pitted against his sworn enemy Van Helsing (played by Lee's longtime friend Peter Cushing in nearly every film). As the title suggests, Dracula 1972 A.D. propelled the vampire lord into the 20th century where he was now forced to combat Van Helsing's living descendents. Lee's final portrayal of Dracula for Hammer was in the critically revilved Satanic Rites of Dracula. Lee was offered to resume the part for 1974's Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (the last Hammer Dracula film), but turned it down after reading the script. Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires at IMDB 1980s In 1985, Lee played the role of occult scholar Stefan Crosscoe in The Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf. According to one interview, Lee agreed to do the movie because he had never before been in a werewolf film. In 1990, Lee worked with director Joe Dante (the director of the first Howling) in the film Gremlins II: The Second Batch, at which point Lee apologized to Dante for having worked in The Howling II. Howling II at IMDB Body of Work Hammer's Dracula series Notes & Trivia * is most commonly recognized for being associated with films produced by Hammer Film Productions. * 1960's Brides of Dracula and 1974's Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires are the only Dracula films from Hammer Film Productions that did not feature Christopher Lee. * Christopher Lee considers The Wicker Man to be the finest fim he has ever worked on, and the role of Lord Summerisle his favorite character. External Links * * * Christopher Lee at Wikipedia * * References ---- Category:1922 births Category:2015 deaths